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CMA to reveal initial view on Ofgem appeals next week
The Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) will publish a summary of its responses to the eight appeals against the RIIO2 price controls for gas and transmission networks next week. The appeals centre around the cost of capital and the outperformance wedge.
News
Institutional energy reforms are ‘unfinished business’
The institutional reforms to the energy industry recently proposed by the government and Ofgem represent “unfinished business,” an influential academic has argued. Catherine Mitchell, professor of energy policy at the University of Exeter, described the proposals as “tantalising” and stated: “It’s really irritating that they just have not gone that extra step.”
News
Ofwat confirms temporary price increases for retail
Ofwat has confirmed its decision to temporarily increase the maximum prices business retailers are permitted to charge as a result of increased levels of bad debt. Under the regulator's plans, where bad costs across the market exceed 2 per cent of revenue, retailers will bear 25 per cent of the costs, with the rest passed on to customers.
News

Featured

It’s all a matter of judg(e)ment
The Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) is due to deliver its preliminary judgement on the appeals against Ofgem’s RIIO2 price controls next month. In her latest column exclusively for Utility Week members, Maxine Frerk examines what we can learn from the arguments put forward so far.
Opinion
Offering a helping hand
Energy suppliers representing 90 per cent of domestic customers have signed up to fresh commitments to support those worried about paying bills this winter. Energy UK deputy chief executive Audrey Gallacher looks at what else the sector is doing to help struggling billpayers.
Opinion
Regulating for success in addressing climate change
As part of our Countdown to COP focus on the future of regulation, the National Infrastructure Commission’s Giles Stevens gives his view on why overhauling the regulatory process is essential for meeting the net-zero target.
Opinion

Latest in Regulation

Counting the cost of the energy crisis
The government is under pressure to find ways to mitigate the pain for consumers of the next energy price cap rise. David Blackman looks at the options on the table and gauges expert reaction on which are likely to become a reality.
Analysis
Analysts trim price cap forecast
Analysts at Investec have lowered their forecast for the price cap for the next period beginning in April by almost £100 but said some form intervention is still needed to help those struggling with bills. The investment firm said wholesale gas and electricity prices have eased since it predicted last month that the price cap would rise to £2,000 for the summer period.
News
Weekend press round-up: Gas bills soar as Ovo ‘moves £21m around’
In our latest round-up of national newspaper coverage, questions are raised after Ovo Energy paid £21 million to a company owned by its founder, while soaring gas prices have led to calls for greater protections for customers using communal heating. Elsewhere, a council in Shropshire has promised to put pressure on water companies following the frequent discharge of sewage into its county waterways.
News
Gas networks release plan to begin hydrogen blending in 2023
Britain’s gas networks have released a new delivery plan setting out how they intend to make the grid ready to begin injecting natural gas blended with 20% hydrogen in 2023. The document published by the Energy Networks Association includes a timeline for necessary changes by government and regulatory bodies across five “market pillars”: legislation, regulation, codes, licences and safety.
News
Fuel poor households should be shielded from SoLR costs
The government’s fuel poverty advisors have called for the poorest customers to be offered relief from the costs of supplier failures. David Blakemore, chair of the Committee on Fuel Poverty, said it would be "just wrong" to require low-income households to pay the price for regulatory mistakes.
News
Miliband calls for ‘root-and-branch reform’ of energy regulation
Shadow secretary for climate change and net zero Ed Miliband has called for “root-and-branch reform” of energy regulation, saying failures over the last decade have left the UK more exposed to high energy costs than other countries in Western Europe. Speaking during a House of Commons debate on Labour’s motion to cut VAT on household energy bills, which was subsequently defeated, Miliband also accused the government of being “paralysed” in the face of a cost-of-living crisis.
News
RAPID calls for projects to embrace renewable energy
The Regulators' Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development has called for water companies to provide evidence of how projects will drive down whole-life carbon emissions as they progress through the gated process. It called for inclusion of renewable energy generation or carbon sequestration where possible in the large-scale schemes being developed to answer looming water shortages.
News
Together Energy facing expulsion from BSC
Together Energy is to be expelled from the Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC) after failing to reduce its credit cover percentage. The Clydebank-based company, which trades on the BSC as ‘Eddingtn’, was listed as being in credit default on 4 January.
News
ED2 seasonal reading
After distribution network operators (DNOs) published their final RIIO ED2 business plans last month, Grid Edge Policy director and former Ofgem partner, Maxine Frerk, tries (and struggles) to draw some comparisons. Given their various inconsistencies and sheer size – amounting to ten of thousands of pages when including the supporting documents - Frerk asks: who are they expecting to read them?
Analysis
Weekend press round-up: ‘No quick fix’ to energy crisis
The ongoing energy crisis continued to grab headlines in the weekend’s papers, with experts warning there is “no quick fix”, Labour urging the government to impose a windfall tax on oil and gas companies to fund support for struggling households and Tory MPs claiming the Treasury is set to see its own £1bn windfall from VAT on energy bills.
News
SoLR levy proposals ‘cannot come at any price’
Ofgem proposals to spread out the costs of Last Resort Supply Payments to reduce short-term impact on energy bills are welcome but should not come at any price, an industry expert has stated. Andy Manning, principal economic regulation specialist at Citizens Advice, was speaking to Utility Week following the publication of a consultation on the plans.
News
Proposal for volumetric SoLR gas levy granted urgent status
Ofgem has fast-tracked a proposed modification to the Uniform Network Code (UNC) that would introduce a new volumetric gas distribution charge for recovering the costs of Last Resort Supply Payments to gas suppliers. UNC797 was proposed by Corona Energy, which said apportioning the costs in relation to usage would limit the impact on fuel poor households.
News
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